Civil Engineering

About

Civil engineering is directly related to facilities and systems used by the public
in their daily life. Civil engineers are engaged in the planning, design, construction
and maintenance of bridges, buildings, foundations, dams, sanitary and solid waste
disposal systems and related environmental considerations, highways, airport facilities,
transportation systems, waterways, hydroelectric installations, pipelines, coal
preparation and loading facilities and other systems and structures.

At WVU Tech, our engineering students get a sound knowledge of science
and a set of core courses in humanities and social sciences. The civil engineering
curriculum has been designed to give students a broad coverage of all fields of
civil engineering with some flexibility to explore a particular field of choice.
This approach gives the WVU Tech graduate a well-rounded background to
handle civil engineering projects.

Design is incorporated across the WVU Tech civil engineering curriculum, and the design experience begins early with some exposure in surveying and mechanics of materials courses. Design exposure continues in the junior and senior years with 11 courses having design components for a total of 20 hours of design. The design component is completed with a capstone design course in which student teams are responsible for the completion of a comprehensive civil engineering project with oral and written presentations of the project.

Integrated Civil Engineering Design requires students to completely design a civil engineering project encompassing several of the civil engineering disciplines and principles of project and/or construction management, cost analysis, estimating and scheduling.. Discussion and consideration of constraints such as economic factors, safety, reliability, aesthetics, ethics and social impact are incorporated as a normal part of most design courses. Aesthetics and social impact are stressed in the Introduction to Environmental Engineering course. Ethics, safety, social impact and professional issues are covered in the Senior Engineering Seminar course.

Our civil engineering students typically obtain valuable work experience through
employment or participation in the following:

West Virginia Department of Highways Summer Intern Program through WVU Tech:
Students participating in this program must be civil engineering majors and
have good academic standing. Those students that have at least one summer of
internship are eligible to apply for WV Department of Highways scholarships.

Cooperative (Co-op) Education and Internship Programs through WVU Tech:
Students who elect the cooperative education program alternate longer periods
of full-time study with periods of full-time paid employment. They are also
required to commit to a minimum of three work periods. Students who elect the
internship program gain the same valuable paid work experience but for shorter
periods of time, usually one or two weeks.

Employment by local engineering consulting firms: Employers will often contact
the Department wanting to employ our students during the summer. Students find
meaningful employment and excellent work experience in this fashion.

Students that participate in any of these work experiences may:

Earn money to finance their college education

Explore career opportunities

Enrich their classroom learning through real-world experience

Accumulate actual career-related work experience

Enhance their marketability after graduation

Establish valuable professional contacts

Improve their communication and interpersonal skills

Civil Engineering students get a solid background in the basic sciences, mathematics,
engineering mechanics and introductory civil engineering courses in the first two
years of our curriculum. The latter two years are devoted to the broad coverage
of all fields of civil engineering and specialty courses in the student’s particular
field of choice (environmental, structures, geotechnical, transportation or water
resources areas). All civil engineering courses are taught by full-time faculty
or qualified adjuncts having professional registration.